Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #150
Cover Date: Oct 81
Title: "I, Magneto..."
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Writer
Dave Cockrum - Penciler
Josef Rubinstein & Bob Wiacek - Inker

Review/plot:
Magneto's in a full manic swing, and he issues an ultimatum to the world's governments, telling them to disarm all their weapons, both nuclear and conventional.

Actually, he says it's not an ultimatum. It's just an order. The Soviet Union responds by attacking him from a nuclear sub...

...and Magneto sinks the sub, killing the entire crew.

He also raises a volcano in the USSR.

Cyclops is powerless to stop him, because Magneto has a power suppressant on his island that allows Cyclops to remove the bandages he's been wearing since he and Lee Forrester were shipwrecked.

Magneto's Bermuda Triangle island is full of weird Cthulhu-ish statues and artifacts, including octopus shirts for Cyclops and Lee Forrester's weird outfit. We never get to hear its origin.

The resultant explosion attracts the attention of the current X-Men, who are flying nearby on their Blackbird. Xavier is also boating in the area, along with Moira, Peter Corbeau, and Carol Danvers.

The X-Men sneak onto the island but find that their powers are de-activated. They do a lot of sneaking around, trying to find a way to deactivate the power dampener.

Given the opportunity to kill Magneto while he is sleeping, Storm thinks to herself that Magneto is not an evil man. This is quite a bit of revisionism considering the character's history, but it's the beginning of the change that Claremont brings to Magneto that eventually makes him a much more interesting character. Later, after the X-Men's powers are restored and they're engaged in battle...

...Magneto nearly kills Kitty before realizing she's just a child.

Her youth triggers a memory from his time at Auschwitz, which is possibly his first reference to being a Holocaust survivor (although X-Men Classic revisionism has muddied the waters for me).

Taking Kitty back from Magneto, Storm refers to her as "my child". Storm's feelings for Kitty are certainly... complicated. Distraught by reaction to Kitty, Magneto stops fighting, doubting himself. Storm lets him go.

Cockrum's art is weirdly bad. Everyone's got giant eyebrows and funny expressions.

But he gets the super-hero stuff right....

... and this is still a good issue, and a great turning point for Magneto if you can accept that he hasn't really been evil all along. There's groundwork here to suggest that he's mentally unstable which is as good an excuse as you can make for the way he's acted in earlier issues.

The issue ends with a cute sequence where Kitty pretends she's got telekinesis.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 4 - turning point for Magneto, plus the death of those Russian sailors will come back to haunt him

Chronological Placement Considerations: The X-Men start this issue flying home from their previous mission from last issue. So no X-Men appearances between that issue and this one. And Carol Danvers is with Xavier, placing this after Avengers annual #10. Rather than have the X-Men appear in Uncanny X-Men #149 and then show up at the X-Mansion to meet Carol Danvers, and then return to the Blackbird with Kitty still wearing her ludicrous costume, it makes more sense for Avengers annual #10 to have taken place before Uncanny X-Men #149, with Carol just not around in that issue.

References:

• Cyclops recounts Jean's death from Uncanny X-Men #137 to Magneto. Magneto is genuinely grieved, but it quickly turns to ranting about his own tragedies.
  

• A footnote directs us to Avengers annual #10 for information on why Carol Danvers is with the X-Men.
  
• When Cyclops feels his powers returning, he compares the feeling to a previous time he had temporarily lost his powers, in Giant-Size X-Men #1.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: X-Men Classic #54

The Lovecraftian island was explained(sort of...) in a Marvel Fanfare issue printing an unpublished issue of the Questprobe limited series.

This is definitely the first time Magneto is identified as a Holocaust survivor. I remember wondering if it meant he was Jewish or if the Nazis had come for him because he was a mutant.

While the Jews were the primary victims of the Holocaust, I always remind people they only made up half of the death total. Gypsies, homosexuals, and people born with genetic disorders are usually mentioned next, but in fact millions of "ordinary" Slavs (Poles, Ukrainians, Serbs, Russians) as well as various religious and political prisoners also perished. So while a Jewish background is plausible, it is not the only one. Later stories may have made it explicit.

One of the problems I have with mutant origins in the Claremont era and later is that writers seemed to forget the importance of radiation/nuclear power involved in birthing mutants that was essential in the pre-Claremont X-Men. Mutants aren't simply born, but are created by radioactive exposure to their parents before they are conceived. Therefore, the origin of Magneto should somehow account for his parents being near radioactive materials. Eventually mutants were being born everywhere with no relation to whatever "corrupted" their parents's genetic material that they could give birth to mutants. Given Magneto's obvious intelligence and scientific education, it's likely his parents were some sort of nuclear researchers in Europe seized by the Nazis.

Once again, we see a character compare an experience to something else that happened to them previously. Do people really do this as often as comic book characters?

This is Claremont with his deep complexities. At the same time that we see the real beginning of Magneto's turn away from evil, we also see some of his most evil acts, the sinking of the submarine (granted they fired on him first, but still) and the raising of the volcano - things that will haunt him in his trial and in X-Men #1. Yet, we also see him at his most human, with his genuine reaction to Jean's death.

I do have to agree with fnord - the art from Cockrum on his original run was quite good - almost all the art of Magneto with his helmet off in this issue are quite bad.

One interesting thing about X-Men - they, it seems, more than anyone else, mention the passing of time. They deal with a number of Christmas issues, Kitty ages through the years and they keep mentioning events that happened in the past (e.g. Jean dying "last year").

"One of the problems I have with mutant origins in the Claremont era and later is that writers seemed to forget the importance of radiation/nuclear power involved in birthing mutants that was essential in the pre-Claremont X-Men. Mutants aren't simply born, but are created by radioactive exposure to their parents before they are conceived."

It's always been a bit more complicated than that, even before Claremont.

Early issues of X-Men implied that it was the increase in general background radiation that was leading to more mutants being born (the strong implication being that nuclear testing and the rise of nuclear power were raising the overall background radiation level of the planet JUST ENOUGH to start triggering mutation). This is why the X-Men were able to beat the second model Sentinels by tricking them into going to fight "the sun" (the sun being the largest source of radiation affecting the Earth, and thus, clearly, the enemy of anyone who wants to stop mutation).

Later storylines (both in the X-titles and outside of them) suggest quite strongly that the radiation hypothesis was never more than a guess, and that it was technically wrong anyway - the REAL source of mutation was the Celestial tampering that took place millions of years ago.

That actually solved a lot of problems in a post-1960's world. People have always pointed out how ridiculous it is that people get superpowers from radiation in the Marvel universe when in the real world all they'd really get is painfully dead (or survive longer but get all sorts of cancer). But it makes perfect sense when you realize the mechanism for it - every Marvel human (but NOT real world human) has subtly altered DNA. DNA which is much more receptive to radiation and mutation, explaining why so many characters in Marvel (mutant or no) are radiation-based.

Thus, the rise of the mutant population in the later half of the 20th century COULD be the direct result of increased radiation, while simultaneously allowing for some people to mutate centuries or more before nuclear power was ever conceived (and besides, there's always the justification of natural nuclear deposits - like the ones on Wundagore Mountain - having exposed people to higher doses of radiation long before we were producing it artificially).

It's definitely a later retcon, but it works perfectly within the context of what was already established.

@ParanoidObsessive: Don't forget too in FOOM #20 it being stated that Kirby planned to reveal Vibranium as the primary catalyst for mutation in the Marvel Universe before his run on Black Panther was cut short.

Thus, the rise of the mutant population in the later half of the 20th century COULD be the direct result of increased radiation, while simultaneously allowing for some people to mutate centuries or more before nuclear power was ever conceived (and besides, there's always the justification of natural nuclear deposits - like the ones on Wundagore Mountain - having exposed people to higher doses of radiation long before we were producing it artificially).

Yes, and obviously canon very quickly presented plenty of mutants who predate nuclear power by years/centuries - is Selene oldest known mutant, she's what, 17000 years old?

By the way, for a person who has sworn off killing, Storm sure threatens with it a lot.

In the Real World(TM) mutagenic factors involve a lot more than just radiation. Nor are mutations even avoidable, really.

Was there ever some attempt at "officially" claiming that mutancy in the MU is so much more tied to radiation than in the real world? I've always found that one of the corniest aspects of the X-verse. Nor does it even serve narrative purposes.

Since Roy Thomas integrated the Eternals into the MU circa Thor #300, it has been implicitly established that human mutancy (in the MU) is so unusual because the Eternals wanted it to be, hasn't it?

Also, IIRC the Hellfire Club found it unusual how many mutants turned out to exist in the last few decades and wanted to find out why. Perhaps it is because of increased background radiation?

http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/uncanny_x-men_132-135.shtml

I think the Eternal (or was it Celestial) connection was to explain why Earth has so many super-powered beings in general, not just mutants?

In MU, 'mutant' is pretty specific, they carry the X-gene. Supposedly this gene has became much common after nuclear testing increased background radiation. A genetic mutation as such does not make a person Homo Superior - although depictions of this have been inconsistent. In X-Factor #14, Master Mold declared all humans as mutants as everyone has at least some mutations.
There have been characters, particularly in the past, who were described as born with special abilities, but no exclusively called 'mutants'. I presume it's possible to be a "mutant" without carrying X-gene.

' In X-Factor #14, Master Mold declared all humans as mutants as everyone has at least some mutations.'

I got the impression that that was because he was damaged in some way, his programming had become defective and he was working beyond his set parameters?

@Zartan - The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe made that explicit about the celestials' gene-tampering introducing "the potential for benevolent mutation" into the genome of mainstream humanity.

I suppose the story *has* to show Magneto doing some of the worst things he's ever done so that even he can finally realize he's gone too far.

Of course there's an argument that his decision to nuke a small country out of spite in his second-ever appearance probably still trumps anything here; the only reason that failed was that Quicksilver refused to let it happen and disarmed the bomb. But then, most people reject Magneto's rather one-dimensional earlier portrayals.

I'd argue that, at the same time, Magneto's actions this issue weren't as totally reprehensible as earlier appearances either. That, for once, Magneto was motivated by a higher purpose, even though his actions were wrong. He was attempting to prevent a nuclear war. You could say that his goal was just, but the means going about establishing peace were the problem.
Usually, Magneto was solely interested in conquering the world, simply because he was "superior" to all the little humans.
In this story, Magneto seemed to have an agenda of preventing humanity from destroying itself.

You could easily append this to the far more sympathetic portrayal of Magneto in God Loves, Man Kills. There, Magneto is shown as having the goal of establishing a "benevolent" dictatorship ruled by mutants, but where humans would be cared for, so long as they left mutantkind alone.

Well Magneto's agenda was simply more thoughtful and realistic than he'd ever been before. It's worth noting that this is the only time in Claremont's 15-year run that he attempted a standard supervillain scheme of the kind he used to do every issue in early "X-Men." It was a standard terrorist threat, but at least his ideals were more believable than simply deciding he was going to rule the world and bring along whatever mutants decided to follow him.

One can easily make the argument that if superbeings rule the world, they can impose their will without spending all the money on armaments that normal humans have to spend, and that money can be used for 'better' purposes that benefit mutant and human alike. And one can also see Russia's point that this is an intrusion upon their sovereignty which cannot be permitted. Declared or otherwise, it is an act of war. A nuclear missile wasn't the best response, but it was believable for what it was.

Then there's the US response, as seen over the next fifty issues, where the government commissions a mutant de-powering beam (like Magneto had on his island) and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants become Freedom Force, while Magneto himself takes over Xavier's Academy. The Mutant Wars were building up.

CC's portrayal of Magneto here and beyond, builds up the subtext of the Xavier's X-Men really protecting mankind over mutants, particularly the prologue scene in Uncanny #176, “Decisions”, where the Valerie Cooper scene gives a detailed recap of Uncanny #150, which featured Magneto attempting to force the countries of the world to disarm – a somewhat noble goal, albeit tyrannical in execution. The X-Men stopped him, effectively allowing the governments of the world to keep on building bombs and weapons.

Well, the X-Men are feared and hated by the world they're sworn to protect...

Isn't Magneto's Heel-Face Turn a bit sudden, long-term plan or no long-term plan?

Reading these comments just after those of Excalibur #61-65 I realize that Claremont has good character _ideas_, but is IMO lousy at _executing_ them. There is an "informed" quality to the character traits. We know that Ororo cares for Kitty because we are told so. We know that Magneto is turning a leaf because he and Xavier tell us so. Nothing flows at all organically.

No wonder he is so verbose! He is trying to compensate for his weak characterization delivery.

Sad but true.

I thought that Claremont could be good with the subtle characterization at points. For example, in X-Men Annual 9, he showed Kitty crying on Maddie's shoulder and Rogue upset- that scene did a good job of establishing (a) Maddie's kind and (b) Rogue's jealous that she can't touch people. Similarly, in Uncanny 229, we see Maddie comforting Tyger Tiger while Betsy complains that she can't read her mind. That shows (a) again, Maddie's kind and (b) Betsy has a problem with boundaries.

Of course Betsy has problem with boundaries, she can't see them. [ba-dump bump]

Seriously, Claremont's characterizations are there. Often difficult to find amidst all the verbiage, but they are there. Kitty being dunked at the end of this issue is a good example, as is Scott's ability to use the X-Men's skills even when they have lost their powers [although one wonders if Nightcrawler has lost his mutant powers, then can he still control his tail?] The Storm/Magneto and Magneto/Kitty scenes are overdone, but have much the same effect.

The characterization scenes do exist. Storm giving Rogue her vest during the Massacre, Rogue giving the vest to Callisto and asking her to find Storm, who is basically giving up on everything, and then Callisto giving the vest back to Storm. Kitty sacrificing herself to save Rogue during the same issue, when she was the one who threw the biggest fit about Rogue joining the X-Men.

Lot of problems with Claremont's X-cution, granted, but the virtues are there as well.

Magneto's destruction of the Russian submarine and the deaths of its crew are brought up several times in future X-Men stories when his past villainy is debated, but in reality that volcano he creates should have killed way more people. Even if Magneto allows for a "desperate mass evacuation", the city of that size could never be fully evacuated in a such a short time period, and there's no way destruction of that magnitude wouldn't have killed loads of innocents... Plus the lava burst seen in the first panel, when the evacuation has not yet begun, would probably have already killed more Russians than what were in that submarine.

Absolutely. The initial eruption would have had massive casualties, and the two panels shown here indicate that a lot of people would never have escaped under any circumstances, even if the Soviets were prepared for an immediate mass evacuation of Varykino, which they probably weren't.

This is only a difference of degree from having destructive superhero fights take place in conveniently-uninhabited neighborhoods and warehouses already slated for demolition. There's no other way to read it, regardless of what the narration says, Magneto just killed a huge number of people. Maybe not as many as Wolverine has killed, but Wolvie's an X-Man so he gets a pass. :)

Just noticed while reading this again that when Scott first finds the others, he calls Wolverine "Logan". They didn't learn Logan's name until after Scott left. I suppose it could be no-prized away by saying "Scott called home and Ororo said to him, 'oh, hey, Scott, turns out Wolverine has a real name and it's Logan'."

Alternate theory: Professor X has known Wolverine's name since he recruited him from the Canadians, and told Scott, but they kept it on a need-to-know basis.

This is the only time in Claremont's 200 issues that Magneto did a typical Magneto-villain scheme. Building a superweapon, holding the world hostage, striking a nation just to prove he can. He did worse in conquering Santo Marco.

For my money, this is the last great Claremont issue before things start to really get confusing with too many subplots and extraneous characters. There's a solid batch of issues for a while (the Brood issues, the wedding), but as we get closer to 200, my interest started waning in the rest of Claremont's run.

Surprising Magneto was so distraught over Kitty's injury when he tried to kill the original X-Men who were not that much older. Claremont deserves credit for giving Magneto some depth, but he stacks the deck by blatantly ignoring much about the previous character. By employing such cheats, he doesn't convince a lot of readers and is why so many other creators worked to overturn his depiction.